I know we have learned a lot about how the nonprofit sector got started and came about. But, how does a person actually start their own non-profit? Do they need to have more than one person with there in order to start the organization? We may have touched on these questions, but I am just interested in knowing what the first steps to starting your own would be. I guess you would have to do research and see if there was already a non-profit organization out there that covers what you wanted to be expressed, but if you surpass this than how do you actually start one of your own?
November 27, 2008
27. Most Important
I have learned a lot of things within this class. But, the most important thing, in my opinion, is the Civil Society Theory. I think that this is the basis to the civil society sector. This theory says that it is three equal pieces, which defines an organization by what it is “not”= non-profit. The third sector means the same thing as a non-profit, which is in addition to government and business. The civil society is the development of organizations not government or business oriented.
The other part of this class that I thought was important was the information that made up the basic components of civil society. I have never really thought about civil society or non-profits and had no idea that there were so many organizations out there. The basic components of the civil society are the social process, the people together for a cause and reasons, the intention- the specific reason, and counter-hegemonic which is always working against the status-quo.
Just knowing this information from class has allowed me to look at an organization and notice what they have to change and what they are trying to do or improve. The civil society is not right or wrong nor left or right. I think that learning this piece of information about how society is structured according to the Civil Society Theory has made me see how in depth the non-profit sector is within our society. Almost every organization, store, billboard, or newspaper that I see has some sort of reference to a non-profit organization. It is nearing the Christmas season so this is probably why there are so many adds out to give to the poor, or give toys to the children, but I have seemed to notice it more than in past years. This is probably due to the fact that I know now how many non-profit organizations are out there, even how they are run in other countries. This class allowed for me to see that and finally understand them too.
November 21, 2008
EL#6: FMSC: Feed My Starving Children
I just donated to Feed My Starving Children. I donated $20.00 to help this cause for this organization. I am only a college student and work part-time so I don’t have that much money. But, my mom got something in the mail from them and she gave $40.00, so I gave her $20.00 more. In total, we donated $60.00 to this cause. To sum it up, “FMSCs mission involves feeding of the poor and god starving children. Relief organizations also help FMSC in the distribution of the food packets. Their vision stands to reduce the percentage of starvation throughout the worlds and look forward for the elimination of the same under the assistance of God. They also aim at instilling compassion in today’s generation so that they truly can hear a cry and respond to them by providing help to the needy.” This is a needed organization because there are so many children out in the world that do not get as much food as we do. I look at everyone and think that sometimes we take food for granted and money. We need to help these children survive because they are not old enough to work and make money for a simple meal. They depend on their parents etc to feed them but sometimes they do not make enough money either. I felt so good when I donated this money because I can earn more money to make up for it. I am going to keep donating money to these various organizations because they need it more than I do.
You can make donations online as well. The donate page says this: “Feed My Starving Children is a Christian 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. A single meal costs only 17 cents to produce, and 94% of all donations goes directly toward the food program.” If you find time donate some money to help this organization.
http://www.fmsc.org/
EL #5: The Pajama Program
”Open Your Heart”… This is the phrase that caught my attention in work the other day. This girl was explaining about an organization that she discovered over the weekend called The Pajama Program. I asked her more about it and she said that this was a heart-warming program that allowed for children in need in the United States, and around the world, many who are waiting and hoping to be adopted, to receive pajamas and books. These are the children that do not know the comforts of a mother or father to tuck them into a cozy bed and read them a bedtime story. Too many have been abandoned, most deprived of any love at all. This organization, The Pajama Program, provides new, warm pajamas to these children. This is where the phrase “Open your heart” comes in. I just love this phrase; it means so much to me that children are taken care of. Just learning of this organization made my heart feel a little better. Even though they are the children that are waiting to be adopted, they are still being taken care of by this organization through the giving of pajamas and books. Pajamas make me feel good at night, so I can’t imagine how it makes them feel to receive brand new ones and books. They deserve to feel special too, and I am sure they do with this organization.
It made me think about how as a child I loved putting on my fuzzy princess nightgown, or my polar bear fleece pants. I think this organization is a great one. It is also funny because since I started taking this Non-profit class, I hear people everywhere talking about non-profits and what they do or don’t do for society. I guess I just never paid attention fully to the billboards and the various people that talk about the non-profit sector. Some of these organizations that everyone has been blogging about are some of the neatest organizations I have read about. And now this one… this one is just so cute and in dire need for children to have comforts at night, especially if they are hurting from not being loved. I wish I could adopt every child that felt unloved and alone… children are my weakness. I think this is why I want to be a teacher so bad; to help children and aide in their process of growing and learning.
EL Comment Post #3
I am commenting on Mkalay’s blog on “Dreams Do Come True for kids.” http://www.dreamsdocometrue.org/aboutus.html
It is funny how she mentioned this organization because I was actually going to do a post on them this week for my 3rd week of posts. She stated that “And the Dreams Do Come True organization is a non-profit organization that helps children from the ages of 5-18 and helps their dreams come true. Now this organization is a little different from Reston Interfaith because this is only for children and not for families or grown adults. But I think the mission of Reston Interfaith and Dreams Do Come True are similar because both organizations do help and guide people with their dreams and goals in life.” I was interested in her blog because I had no idea about the Reston Interfaith, but I did have an idea about Dreams Do Come True. I am glad to see that they are similar in helping guide people with their dreams and goals in life. More power to her for being a volunteer for helping so many lives.
November 20, 2008
26. Best Friends Network Blogs
This blog that I found deals with animals. The nonprofit organization is called Best Friends Network and they connect people through kindness to animals. I stumbled onto this blog website as a result of entering “blogs from nonprofits” on my Google search engine. On this website are featured many blogs about what people believe is right for animals. Such as, one blog is entitled “No More Chained Dogs! No More Homeless Pets.” They give their insights on animals and how they believe animals should be treated as well as their own stories on their animals. I enjoyed reading some of these blogs, you should go to their website and read some of them too!
http://network.bestfriends.org/Blogs/Default.aspx?g=cb74d5d1343245388b62ada116e11790
25. Brazil vs. China
The country that I did my readings on for last week was Brazil. A difference between Brazil and China is that they both have different challenges within the nonprofit sector. The challenges faced by Brazil mean that there is an overwhelming need to strengthen the transformative capacity of the nonprofit sector, and specifically the philanthropic sector. “Brazil is the largest, richest, and most populous country in Latin America, with a population of 175 million people and a gross national product of US $452.4 billion, but it is also a place of supremely unequal wealth distribution, where 10% of the population possesses 50% of the country’s revenue and the 50% poorest possesses only 10%. This central challenge makes demands on all of society today, but perhaps most of all on the philanthropic sector because of its capacity to convene actors of change and sponsor change.” (The Future of Philanthropy in Brazil: Creating a More Diverse Sector. By: Candace Lessa and Fernando Rossetti). China’s biggest challenge in meeting the rising demands for social issues are due to the lack of business resources, management training and skills, and funding (The McKinsey Quarterly Developing China’s Nonprofit Sector). And yet, in a way they are also similar. They both do not have a lot of funding for this non-profit sector, and yet they yearn to support it.
November 12, 2008
EL Comment Post #2
I want to comment on HKoren88’s Post #2 for Week 2. I also receive weekly update for old navy, banana republic, etc. and have received the give and get email for which if you are a member you will get 30% off and 5% off of the amount you spend and they will donate it to the non-profit of your choice. Since I buy so much during the Christmas season I want to try to donate a little to each and every one of these organizations on the list. HKoren said that they would donate to the nonprofit Care. I would probably most like to donate to Dress for Success, this nonprofit empowers disadvantaged women by provided work attire and giving them career tools. This was a great topic to post a blog on and when I read it I had to comment on it too.
This is the blog that HKoren88 said in their EL Week 2 #2 post:
In my last EL post I spoke about how the government works with non-profits. Today i will talk about businesses. I was checking my e-mail and received my weekly updates for Old navy, Banana Republic, and Gap to learn about sales. This weekend from November 13-16 they have an event called Give & Get. If you are a member you will get 30% off and 5% of the amount you spend to the non-profit of your choice. According to the e-mail, “During our August Give & Get event, we donated $1.3 million.”
The non-profit choices include: World Wildlife Fund, Boys and Girls Club of America, Dress for Success( empowers disadvantaged women by provided work attire and giving them career tools,The Global Fun( which fights AIDS), The Gap Foundation( helps women in developing countries build life and job skills), and care(a humanitarian organization that fights poverty). Care is the one that I plan to donate to.
EL#4: KaBoom
So, I was looking through a dessert book that had brownies with special Christmas tins that you could get them shipped and gift wrapped in, and there was an insert within the magazine that had an ad for a nonprofit organization called KaBoom. Who would have thought that a nonprofit organization would be in a brownie magazine? The magazine is called Cheryl & Co. I don’t know if any of your have heard of them or not, but their brownies are delicious!
I researched KaBoom after I finished looking at the delicious brownie magazine and found out that they are celebrating twelve years of service in 2008, KaBOOM! is the national non-profit that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child. At this organization they passionately believe that play has purpose, and that unstructured play in particular helps make children happier, fitter, smarter, more socially adept and creative.
KaBOOM! also leads the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which rallies individuals and communities to achieve better public policy, funding and public awareness for increased play opportunities. To help individuals achieve results on a grassroots level, we created the Playmaker Network, whose members are the eyes, ears and voice for play in their communities. In 2007, we launched another component of the campaign, the Playful City USA recognition program, which honors the efforts of cities that create an agenda on play.
This is a wonderful organization and I am glad that I stumbled upon it while looking at brownies haha. They seem to have a good agenda in this organization and I think that when I get more money than a college student’s budget, I will donate some money to this organization. I am also going to tell my job about it. I work at an Academy with about one hundred and fifty kids, since I see them almost every day I see the joy that they get when they go outside to the playground. Just knowing that there is an organization that promotes this happiness to children through a simple playground is a blessing. All children need time outside and time to play with their friends. KaBoom is an honorable organization that serves the community and children very well.
http://kaboom.org/WhoWeAre/WhatIsKaBOOM/tabid/62/Default.aspx
Also, I was watching the Country Music Awards tonight and while writing this post on KaBoom an organization from Mary Kay came on TV called “A Kiss For Country.”
“As the Official Beauty Sponsor of the 41st Annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, Mary Kay and the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation have enlisted the help of Country Music superstar Martina McBride to help kiss domestic violence goodbye. Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation will award grants in 2008 of $20,000 in each participating artist’s name to domestic violence shelters across the country. Each year the Foundation provides grants to women’s shelters in all 50 states and in 2008, pledges to donate $3 million to women’s shelters around the country.
The benefit of this campaign continues with an online auction beginning Tuesday, November 6. Fans will have the chance to bid on their favorite star’s kiss and autograph through uBid.com, with 100 percent of the proceeds donated to the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation to support domestic violence prevention programs.
Mary Kay is excited to offer stars and fans alike the chance to unite against this cause and help break the silence on violence against women.”
http://mypinktruth.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/a-kiss-for-country/
EL#3: Our Daily Bread
While retriving the mail the other day, I was thumbing through it and came upon a postcard that said “share the spirit of the season.” It was from an organization called Our Daily Bread, It was addressed to my mom. I asked her later that day about it and what they were. She said that her office, she works for a Dentist, all pooled their money together to donate to this organization. Since she works for a Dentist, the doctor, Dr. Young, offered Our Daily Bead, a free Zoom treatment. Which is a free whitening treatment. Then, they all gave money to the organization as well. Their website is www.our-daily-bread.org
Our Daily Bread (ODB) is a volunteer-based organization focused on easing the plight of low income residents in the area of Fairfax, Virginia. It draws volunteers from local faith-based groups, community organizations, local businesses, schools and universities.
I have never even heard of this organization, but it sounds so good! Its mission is to identify and address the unmet fundamental needs of Fairfax area residents and empowers the community to help our neighbors maintain self-sufficiency.
What a great organization, and to think that my mom is a direct contributor to their cause, as well as my Dentist! They have been serving Fairfax County since 1984, but without finding that postcard in the mail and asking my mom about it, I don’t think I would have even known about them! I am definitely going to spread the work abou them and donate some money towards their cause. I think there are so many organizations that are helping people and this is another one of the many ones that deserve our participation and our help!
